[DISCLOSURE: Richard Leis, Jr. is an adviser of a transhumanist club at the University of Arizona and has donated US$150 to the World Transhumanist Association for this fundraising campaign.]

The World Transhumanist Association (WTA) announced yesterday the launch of a fundraising campaign to raise $25,000 by January 31, 2008.  All funds donated will be matched dollar-for-dollar by sponsors Bill Faloon, co-founder of the Life Extension Foundation and editor of the Life Extension magazine, and Brian Cartmell, serial internet entrepreneur and founder of Cartmell Holdings, LLC.  The WTA hopes to raise up to US$50,000 to support their identity and website redesign, an upcoming digital magazine entitled “H+”, student outreach programs, and their next Transvision Conference.

Transhumanism is the global social movement and philosophy that embraces the ethical use of current and expected technology advances to enhance human capabilities and mitigate human suffering.  Rapid technological progress suggests individuals will soon enjoy “longer, healthier, smarter, and happier lives” as described in the WTA’s press release for the campaign.

As of this evening the campaign has raised over $2000.

[Recap]

Calvin Mercer asked “Cryonics and Religion: Friends or Foes?”  Cryonics, Mercer believes, will require support from more people than just scientists, including religious people.  How should cryogenics supporters present these ideas to religious people?

How the discussion will play out, according to Mercer, will include debates between liberal and conservative viewpoints, anthropocentric versus theocentric beliefs, materialism versus the supernatural, pragmatic versus dogmatic outlooks, and revisionists versus traditionalists.  This will show up as supporters and critics in the various Christian religions.

Mercer seeks to generate discussion about radical life extension among liberal religious people and someday among conservative religious people, starting with academics.  He provided two examples of success, including sessions at a conference and a book.

Liberal religious people are most concerned about issues of justice and fairness.  They worry that these technologies will not be available for everyone.  On the right are the conservatives, and Mercer said there are degrees of conservatism, but with common characteristics like belief in the supernatural and dogmatic thinking.

Mercer believes some conservatives will in fact embrace radical life extension.  They will be torn between their beliefs and their desire to get “being a good Christian” right to avoid going to Hell.

Christian faith includes the concept of the “miracle” of resurrection.  On the one hand there is resuscitation of the dead, like Lazarus. On the other there is transformation of the dead, like Jesus.  The dialog between radical life extentionists and religious people could be started around their ideas about “indefinite” lifespans and “infinite” existence, respectively.

[Commentary]

I would not expect an Alcor Conference talk about “Cryonics and Unicorns.”  I would not expect talks about “Cryonics and Astrology,” “Cryonics and Baseball Players,” or “Cryonics and Intelligent Design.”  However, I do understand that the majority of people are religious or spiritual.  Mercer presented this talk as an academic, rather than a theologist.

[Alcor Conference - Table of Contents]

[Recap]

Calvin Mercer asked “Cryonics and Religion: Friends or Foes?” Cryonics, Mercer believes, will require support from more people than just scientists, including religious people. How should cryogenics supporters present these ideas to religious people?

How the discussion will play out, according to Mercer, will include debates between liberal and conservative viewpoints, anthropocentric versus theocentric beliefs, materialism versus the supernatural, pragmatic versus dogmatic outlooks, and revisionists versus traditionalists. This will show up as supporters and critics in the various Christian religions.

Mercer seeks to generate discussion about radical life extension among liberal religious people and someday among conservative religious people, starting with academics. He provided two examples of success, including sessions at a conference and a book.

Liberal religious people are most concerned about issues of justice and fairness. They worry that these technologies will not be available for everyone. On the right are the conservatives, and Mercer said there are degrees of conservatism, but with common characteristics like belief in the supernatural and dogmatic thinking.

Mercer believes some conservatives will in fact embrace radical life extension. They will be torn between their beliefs and their desire to get “being a good Christian” right to avoid going to Hell.

Christian faith includes the concept of the “miracle” of resurrection. On the one hand there is resuscitation of the dead, like Lazarus. On the other there is transformation of the dead, like Jesus. The dialog between radical life extentionists and religious people could be started around their ideas about “indefinite” lifespans and “infinite” existence, respectively.

[Commentary]

I would not expect an Alcor Conference talk about “Cryonics and Unicorns.” I would not expect talks about “Cryonics and Astrology,” “Cryonics and Baseball Players,” or “Cryonics and Intelligent Design.” However, I do understand that the majority of people are religious or spiritual. Mercer presented this talk as an academic, rather than a theologist.

• Templeton Research Lectures - Brad Allenby: “From Human to Transhuman: Technology and the Reconstruction of the World”
• College of Law Great Hall, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
• Monday, October 22, 2007 at 7:30pm
• Tickets (select “Transhumanism” under drop-down menu)

• TransVision 2007 - Transhumanity Saving Humanity: Inner Space to Outer Space
• Chicago Fairmont Hotel, Chicago, IL, USA
• July 23-26, 2007
• Description:
  

  Do you believe that emerging technology will give society the ability to solve the greatest challenges facing humanity? What’s the biggest priority: longevity therapies, sustainable energy, clean water, a restored environment, or space development?

  The World Transhumanist Association is a global non-profit member organization dedicated to the ethical use of technology to expand human capacities. The WTA supports the development of and access to new technologies that enable everyone to enjoy better minds, better bodies and better lives. This philosophy would be negligent without considering a better environment and a better planet in which to live. How can we live better than well if we don’t take action now to solve the greatest challenges facing our world?

  Therefore, the theme of TransVision 2007 is: Transhumanity Saving Humanity: Inner Space to Outer Space, and will feature three full days of compelling dialogue with the greatest minds of today about creating the civilizations of tomorrow. TV07 brings extraordinary people from across the globe together with more than 30 distinguished speakers, entertainers and visionaries including: award-winning inventor, futurist, author Raymond Kurzweil; acclaimed longevity scientist, Aubrey de Grey; and Emmy award winning actor, William Shatner.

The beta of Apple OS-X Leopard provided to developers that attended WWDC has been leaked. Nicholas Deleon of CrunchGear posted about the upcoming operating system appearing on Oink, a private piracy site and, oh boy, are the darknet pirates angry. In their anger, they are throwing out every homophobic rant they can think of in their comments to Deleon’s post.

There remains implicit support in our society for intolerance, and teenagers and young adults have learned from their parents, peers, and politicians that it is okay to verbally abuse people they do not agree with by using language that is never appropriate. We have therefore found ourselves in a Web 2.0 world where the most common criticism in response to a post comes in the form of explicit homophobia. Combined with the fact that most comments are anonymous or made using silly usernames, this vitriol has gotten out of control.

What to do about people who hide behind their anonymity to continue pirating copyrighted content and perpetuate intolerance? We should start by removing anonymity on the Internet. To use the Internet, everyone should be required to provide their true name.

When gaming, usernames are appropriate. People purposely create a different identity for entertainment purposes. When people conduct business, join discussions, or other activities in cyberspace, then usernames and anonymity are not appropriate. Their use indicates the user does not take full ownership of their actions and any consequences. They are cowards who pretend to fear Big Brother and a loss of privacy, but who really just want to do whatever they want without being caught, including criminal activity aimed at harming others.

One of the reason why I now use Facebook is because this social network values real identities instead of usernames and anonymous activity. You can create fake names, but a majority of people appear to be using their true names and true identities, in the spirit of staying in touch with family and friends. Compare this to activity on MySpace, blogs, and sites like Digg, where few people take ownership of their identities and become intolerant jerks in their anonymous freedom.

If content is to be valued, then the creator must stand nakedly beside his or her content. This is cybernudism, the ability to expose your true name, your true identity while interacting on the net over great distances of space and even time. To conduct yourself otherwise is to become a closeted phantom, as ephemeral and unimportant as the ghosts from superstition and pseudoscience.

When I see a silly username or “Anonymous” respond to a post, I know the person is cowardly and I respect nothing they have to say, whether the response is positive or negative. I can no longer support content piracy when the pirates choose to complain with intolerance while hiding behind masks. May they continue to gravitate toward their Morlock existence in a lower darknet that stifles innovation in its religious pursuit of cowardice. Meanwhile, those of us in cyberspace who embrace our true names, take responsibility for our actions, and learn through the consequences, will welcome the revolutions yet to come.

Headline on CNN.com: “Girl, 5, stumbles from woods to delight rescuers”

“Little’s husband, Brian, said parishioners have been “praying for his whole family.”"Obviously, we’re giving all the glory to God on this one,” Brian Little said.”

Obviously, the glory belongs with the smart little survivor, you awful people! You might as well give the glory to a unicorn or the Loch Ness Monster as well while you are disrespecting the little girl. Instead of praying for the whole family, why not get out there and search? Raise some money for a nice and expensive toy for the girl? I wish people would actually do something instead of their useless praying, and I wish news sites would remember what it means to be objective and quit including prayer quotes in ever freaking story.

But my wishing is just as effective as their praying.

This appears right now (around 11:30 AM PST on Monday, June 18, 2007) on Weather.com:

National Forecast
Prayers answered
2:00 p.m. ET 6/18/2007
Many southern communities have had prayer vigils for rain due to the drought. Their prayers may be answered Tuesday.

Weather is a science. The storm front is not an answer to prayers. It is not the result of some mystical being subtly manipulating the universe to bring relief. It is the result of physical processes at work on our planet.

“Prayer” is appearing far too in headlines and news articles. Instead of praying, read a book about weather, move, or take some action that might actually mean something.

This is a nightmare right out of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged.

Bolivian troops seize key smelter

The numbers do not lie, and they are surprising:

• The majority of households in the United States are now unmarried.
• In the United States, death rates are collapsing even faster than birth rates - once every 13 seconds versus once every 7 seconds, respectively.
• Poverty rates around the world are also falling rapidly, as a percentage of the total human population and as the total number of people afflicted. At this rate, by 2015 the number of people in extreme poverty will be less than half of that in 1981 (0.6 billion versus 1.5 billion).
• In the United States, violent crime, despite periodic short term spikes, continues a downward trend that began 13 years ago.

These changes are the direct result of scientific and technological breakthroughs over the past 20 years and the spread of education, especially to women. Of special note are new drugs and treatments that have extended life expectancies, the Internet, birth control, and wireless and cellular networks. As these technologies reach more impoverished countries, effects are immediate, creating the “leap frog” effect of developing countries adopting new technologies at a faster rate than developed countries.

It remains popular to lament about the state of the world, and extremist views of apocalypse are as widespread as ever, but as more and more people reject religion, faith, and spirituality; as more and more women are empowered; and as individuality continues to usurp community, statistics clearly reflect results that defy the most pessimistic presumptions.